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Governor Newsom signs SB 245 with California First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom on March 22, 2022 (Photo: gov.ca.gov)

Silicon Valley Bank Ties to California First Partner Jennifer Newsom

‘What did they know and when did they know it?’

By Katy Grimes, March 12, 2023 10:14 am

Silicon Valley Bank was closed Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, with the FDIC in charge of liquidation. SVB was one of the largest banks in the country and one of the premier banks of Venture Capital firms and start-up companies.

In looking at the SVB board and executive team bios, there is an interesting tie to California’s First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom – one of the SVB Executives sits on the board of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s California Partners Project.

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement Saturday morning in response to the appointment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver of Silicon Valley Bank:

“Over the last 48 hours, I have been in touch with the highest levels of leadership at the White House and Treasury. Everyone is working with FDIC to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible, to protect jobs, people’s livelihoods, and the entire innovation ecosystem that has served as a tent pole for our economy.”

Shortly thereafter, Gov. Newsom was excoriated on Twitter.

However, the most intriguing comment pushing back at the governor was Ric Grenell’s poignant response to an explosive reveal:

The Executive Officer referred to in the Tweet is John China, President of SVB Capital: “He sits on the board of the California Partners Project led by Jennifer Siebel Newson.”

The Globe reached out to Grenell for a comment:

“Gavin has always been a secretive politician,” Grenell said. “He never gives the full story and the Sacramento media is largely afraid to take him on. The lack of transparency in State government is a dangerous situation because California is currently a one party controlled dictatorship and Gavin is the boss.”

Grenell fairly asks, “@GavinNewsom should be transparent about California’s First Lady’s relationship to the SVB leadership. Did she get involved at all? What did they say to her in the lead up to the collapse?”

Indeed. As Forbes notes, this meltdown did not happen overnight. “Silicon Valley Bank Proxy Shows Board’s Secret Yearlong Risk Panic,” the Forbes headline says. “The sudden freefall is likely not a surprise to the SVB board. In the past 15 months, as top insiders cashed options and sold shares, SVB operated without a full-time chief risk officer and the number of board risk committee meetings more than doubled.”

Notably, Silicon Valley Bank had no official chief risk officer for 8 months while the Venture Capital market was spiraling, Fortune reported. “It is unclear how the bank managed risks in the interim period between the departure of one CRO and appointment of another.”

Another question that has not been asked by anyone in the media yet was asked almost immediately by Vivek Ramaswamy, American entrepreneur, author, and conservative political activist now running for President: Was Silicon Valley Bank using Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), and Diversity  and Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to make economic decisions? “A key cause of the 2008 financial crisis was the use of social factors to make loans (back then, fostering home ownership),” Ramaswamy said. “When we don’t learn lessons, history repeats itself: did Silicon Valley Bank use ESG factors to price its loans? Roll that log over & see what crawls out.”

Did Silicon Valley Bank use ESG social factors to make financial decisions, Ramaswamy asks. “Why were they worrying about a healthy planet and not about a healthy financial sheet?”

Why was a bank focused on environmental and climate change issues, and not the bottom line? How does a focus on Diversity and Equity and Inclusion improve the return on investment? Quick answer: It doesn’t.

This is relevant because it is also First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s primary focus in her creepy gender justice films for school kids, featuring her “genderbread person,” who aims to show children how biological sex, “gender expression,” “sexual attraction,” and “gender identity” exist on a spectrum. As the Globe reported in January:

California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife, “First Partner” Jennifer Siebel Newsom, have quite a money-making scheme going on: “While her husband attends to state business, Siebel Newsom engages in her passion: advancing ‘gender justice’ through her charitable nonprofit The Representation Project. According to tax documents the organization is ‘committed to building a thriving and inclusive society through films, education, and social activism,’” Open the Books reports.

The Globe sent the governor’s office an inquiry and will report back with his reply.

Forbes asks the only important question: “The board now faces the classic Watergate questions — what did they know and when did they know it? Their 2023 proxy holds some initial clues of a silent panic.”

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72 thoughts on “Silicon Valley Bank Ties to California First Partner Jennifer Newsom

  1. Yes, Ms. Grimes. This SVB connection is really no surprise. Let’s turn over all of the rocks in the Newsoms’ backyard and see what comes crawling out.

  2. Well, isn’t this special. Silicon Valley Bank’s President and student of kitesurfing John China —- whose prog-seasoned bio seems to indicate he has gone far afield of his degree in “industrial engineering” —- sits with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom on the board of her pet “California Partners Project.” How cozy and convenient. Too bad this arrangement also has “potentially extremely explosive” written all over it, now that SVBank has failed and this connection has been “inconveniently” discovered.
    Another great report from Katy Grimes.
    Anxiously awaiting Chapter 2 of this delectable morsel.

  3. Thank you for identifying the connection, Newsom would never allude to it unless it was otherwise exposed by an outside source. John China cashed out 990 shares (of 22k?) in November @ $345/share, not sure if he cashed out two weeks ago with other execs. More in-depth detail of SVB at Tech Crunch and Zero Hedge. Should be an interesting week for Wall Street and Banks! ‘At this point, I’m sorry to report, no one is in a position to stop anything.’ -Tyler Durden

    1. “Interesting week” indeed, Marilyn Midura. Aside from finding a buyer or buyers for SVB, it appears that the main focus is to protect those who are at the $250k level and provide liquidity for those above to meet payrolls. Yellen wants to prevent contagion of banks with solid balance sheets, she says. It will be a reliability/validity test of the so-called “stress tests” of banks conducted while Yellen was the Federal Reserve chair. (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/svb-latest-developments-live-blog-fdic-auction-failed-svb-assets-underway)

          1. P.S. 6:10pm ET Sunday update…..Well, enough already. Time to end this thread. All I can say is that Yellen’s initial response was probably the right one to follow. It appears that during subsequent meetings she was “persuaded” to take other actions that will make things worse but will appease the Wall Street mob. I picture Yellen in my mind’s eye, at these meetings, trying to fend off the woke barbarians at the gate and getting overwhelmed. “What will be, will be.”

  4. This coming week may be the death of woke companies who were financed by this woke bank. Go Woke, Go Broke!

  5. SVB was banking on their name and notoriety of being THE Venture Capital bank.
    They did not hold to typical banking standards to protect assets.
    They heavily invested in US securities and the bond market has been in a free fall for the last year.
    We find out they prided themselves on woke policy such as ESG.
    We find out they did not have a risk assessment officer for the last 8 months.
    So much for federal stress tests!
    I am sure if the SVB branches post a blue and yellow flag on their doors, all will be forgiven by the arrogant, investors and customers. Virtue signaling fixes everything😏

      1. CW,
        It raises many questions about how they held money.
        Also, one of the most prominent VC’s is Sequoia Capital that held funds at SVB. Sequoia Capital is linked to the CCP. We know “The Big Guy” is connected to the CCP.
        It is a tangled web and now we know the Newsoms are connected by The First Creaton’s non profit.

  6. “Silicon Valley Bank posted ‘financial crimes’ senior manager job listing just before closure”
    Perhaps the Globe can investigate whether or not either one or both Newsoms were involved in any “financial crimes” at SVB? Insider trading perhaps? Oh, but that one is a crime only for some people (like Martha Stewart). Woke Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and her husband are not considered criminals when they commit ‘financial crimes’ like insider trading are they? https://www.foxbusiness.com/financials/silicon-valley-bank-posted-financial-crimes-senior-manager-job-listing-before-closure

  7. Excellent article that explains what the Fed action means: End of the American Dream.com – ‘The Federal Reserve Just Made an Emergency Decision Which Will Fundamentally Change Banking in America Forever’
    I think the biggest shock is CALIFORNIA DEPT of FINANCIAL PROTECTION & INNOVATION (Cothilde Hewlett, Commissioner), with FDIC as Receiver, wielded power that created domino effect repercussions for people, banks, businesses, wall street, etc. across the country (and the world…ie. Sweden Pension Fund). This is by no means over, as we’ll see this week, and has long-term ramifications noted in the article.
    As we’ve seen before, it’s always by design and always by the numbers (gematriaeffect.news), and this one
    is brimming.

  8. Now that the CCP owned Biden regime is going to have its FDIC and Federal Reserve make good on all deposits in the bank including Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s California Partners Project, maybe she won’t have to email her producer buddy Harvey Weinstein for advice like she did with Gavin’s infidelities?

    1. Yes Tj, corruption runs deep and absolute corruption runs deeper. Unfortunately, corruption will insure that California’s First “They” and They’s significant other will go untouched.

  9. ” The lack of transparency in State government is a dangerous situation because California is currently a one party controlled dictatorship and Gavin is the MOB boss.”
    There, now it’s a more accurate description of California state politics…

  10. The more you read about SVB, the more you realize how emblematic the bank is of Newsom & Co.’s governance and policy and the Bay Area culture in general. Me, mine, me, mine; rules for thee, not me. The bad investments, the bonuses paid to execs right before depositors showed up last Monday followed by the bank’s collapse, the taking for granted that undeserved bailouts will come no matter what when you’ve SCREWED UP completely (even though incessantly warned), then the inevitable (undeserved) bailouts of the elites, while everyone else pays dearly. And suffers.

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